Flames of the Heart

A/N: I meant to have this out last week, but it just didn't happen. Sorry for the wait. Thank you so much to those who reviewed! It meant a lot to me. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 2

Hermione walked down the sidewalk, a bag that held a container of cookies in one hand, and her other hand clasped tightly around Rose's small hand. She looked down at her daughter, who was intently taking in the buildings, and passing people and cars. A small smile formed on her lips at the sight of her Rose's wide inquisitive eyes. Her daughter, so full of life and curiosity, it pained Hermione to think that just weeks ago she had nearly lost her.

Rose had spent a day being observed in the hospital, before being released. She had a bit of a cough for the first week, but that was to be expected after all of the smoke she was exposed to due to the fire. It had been two weeks since the fire, two long stressful weeks. Hermione and Rose had been staying with Harry, Ginny, and their three children, James, Albus, and Lily while they looked for a new place to live. She was thankful for all of their help, but it was a bit cramped with all of them under one roof, Hermione wanted her own place again, and room to breathe. She was having to tap into a lot of the savings her and Ron had put aside, which had caused much worry for Hermione. On top of finding a new home and replacing all of their belongings, she now had to start thinking about looking for a job to support them. She had done well so far living off of savings, writing educational articles here and there for books or the Prophet to bring in a bit of extra money.

It was stressful, but Hermione was thankful all the same. If it weren't for Malfoy, she wouldn't have her daughter to worry over anymore. Malfoy. Now that was a name that had caused a lot of confusion for her over the last two weeks. She had been shocked to see that it was him, in a muggle position, risking his life for the lives of others. But the way he interacted with her had been the most shocking part.

Suddenly there was movement at the door, a firefighter came running down the front steps with a small girl in his arms. "Rose!" Hermione shouted running to the ambulance that her daughter had been taken to. She had been laid on the stretcher and was coughing; her face was covered in soot. The paramedic was placing an oxygen mask on her face while another was getting her vitals. "Please step back ma'am, we need to make sure she's stable." A hand rested on Hermione's shoulder, pulling her back a couple steps and out of the way as she watched the men checking out her daughter, she wanted so badly to just scoop her up.

"She's going to be okay" A male voice said to her. "We found her in time, she inhaled some smoke, but she's going to be fine." He told her in a soft voice, trying to reassure her. "Here, I thought you might want this" and she felt a slim piece of wood being slipped into her pocket. Her eyes widened, her attention being pulled from her daughter, he had grabbed her wand for her, which meant he knew what it was. She slowly turned her head to look at her daughter's savoir for the first time. Her brown eyes immediately locked with his beautiful silver gray eyes. She took in his pale pointed face that had soot on it, and then his platinum blond hair. He took in her shocked expression and chuckled, a smile lighting up his face. "Hey Granger"

"Malfoy?" she gasped. "Wh-What are you doing here?"

He quirked an eyebrow, "Working" Rose gave a whimper and Hermione's head snapped back to her. "She's going to be okay, she's scared, but ok." Hermione just nodded.

"DRACO! Get over here! You need to get ready to go back in!" another male voice called. Draco patted Hermione's shoulder lightly before leaving. She watched them load Rose into the ambulance and then climbed in herself, taking Roses hand in hers.

Malfoy working with muggles, and risking his own life for the lives of others. Now she had seen everything. Malfoy just happened to be her and Roses reason for their current outing. Rose had decided that they should make cookies for all the firefighter and bring them to them as a way to say thank you. Hermione had agreed, she would like the chance to thank Malfoy, and after several phone calls she managed to find out which station he worked at and when he would be there. They finally arrived at station three, the bay doors were open.

"Look Mummy! Fire trucks!" Rose shouted in excitement, Hermione laughed at the small girl jumping up and down, pointing to the large trucks. She looked up and into the bay, her eyes locking with a pair a grey ones.

Draco finished up the paperwork from the call they had just gotten back with and filed it away. Entering the bay he crossed to the racks against the wall and reorganized his gear, making sure it was ready for the next call before making his rounds around the trucks, ensuring they too were ready to go.

He sighed, the previous call had been a waste of time. The alarm was set off at the local high school, a student goofing around of course. He didn't mind attending the call, but the cat calls from the young high school girls had been mildly irritating. He felt he now knew what women felt like while passing a construction site.

An excited squeal caught his attention, looking out towards the door he saw a small girl jumping up in down in excitement, her mother standing next to her smiling at her daughters antics. She looked up at him and he made his way over to them.

"I bet you're Rose." He said crouching down in from of the little girl, she nodded her head vigorously. "Did you come to visit and see the fire trucks?"

"Yes! Yes!" She shouted making Draco chuckle.

"Rose there's no need to shout" Hermione told her in amusement.

"But Mom!" Draco mocked playfully. "It's SO exciting!" He offered his hand to Rose. "Would you like a tour Rose?"

"Yes please!" She latched onto his hand and he led her to one of the trucks, opening the driver's door and picking her up to place her in the seat. Hermione followed, pulling out a camera and snapping a picture of Rose, a wide smile plastered on her face and her small hands wrapped around the steering wheel, kneeling in the seat.

A door on the far wall opened and a man's voice called out. "Draco! Is that you squealing like a little girl?" Draco shot the man a glare as he rounded the corner of the truck. Draco and Matt had been hired onto the department at the same time. He was older than Draco by about ten years, and a bit shorter and stockier than Draco's 6' tall, lean frame. He had thick dark hair and light brown eyes, and a thick mustache.

"No. It's little Miss Rose here." His friend looked up at the small girl. "Rose is the little girl we helped out of that apartment fire on 3rd street a couple weeks ago. Her and her mum came for a visit." Matt turned to Hermione then.

"Hi I'm Matt" he said holding out his hand. Hermione shook his hand giving him a smile.

"Hermione, nice to meet you" she replied, both of them turning back to Draco and Rose.

"So Rose," Draco started. "How old are you?"

"Free." She replied proudly.

"Free? I didn't realize you were for sale" he teased her.

"No! Free!" She yelled holding up three small fingers.

"Oh I see. Three, my mistake." He reached up and placed a helmet on her head, moving aside for Hermione to take a picture.

"Wow! It's heavy!" she exclaimed.

"Yes it is. It's very heavy and hard, it makes sure my head won't get hurt if something falls on it." He told her.

"Ohhhh." She said. "We brought you cookies!" Draco laughed at the sudden subject change.

"Did someone say cookies?" came the voice of someone else. Blake came around the corner joining the group. He was very tall, about 6' 2" and impossible skinny, with Sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was the youngest of their crew at only 20 years old. Draco insisted his stomach was a bottomless pit, the kid ate four times as much food as the other guys, and constantly complained he was hungry. Matt introduced him to Hermione.

"I did! Me and Mummy made them!" Rose told him. "Mummy and I" Hermione corrected her, holding up the bag in her hand. Draco took the helmet off Rose's head and scooped her up off of the seat, hoping down from the truck.

"Well then, we should go inside and have a cookie, and then you can have a look around the station." Draco told her, placing her on her feet. Rose's eyes lit up and she half dragged Draco to the door, causing the other three adults to laugh.

Draco brought Rose to the kitchen and sat her in one of the many chairs before turning to pull cups out of the cupboard.

"Why are there so many chairs in here?" she asked looking around the table that held no less than ten chairs.

"So all of the firefighters have a place to sit." He replied, sitting a cup in front of her. The others joined them and took a seat, Hermione pulling out the cookies and sitting them in the middle before pulling one out of Rose and sitting it on the napkin Draco had put in front of her. Draco sat down, thinking of how odd his current situation was. He was sitting at a table with Hermione "Gryffindor Princess" Granger having cookies. If anyone had told him he would be here six years ago, he would have suggested they be committed. But a lot had changed over the years. He had changed.

Draco had of course been arrested and tried, only saved by the testimony of Harry Potter. He may not have liked him during school, but he had to admit that he was thankful. Potter was the sole reason Draco and his mother were allowed to walk free. His father on the other hand was convicted of being a death eater, and a number of other charges that Draco tried his hardest not to think about. Though his father's conviction had been hard on his mother, Draco was glad he was gone from their lives. He was sick of his father controlling his every move; it was his fault that Draco had ever ended up with that damned mark on his arm, a constant reminder of the hideous past. His guilt over his past actions had actually lead Draco to seek a the career he was now in, it felt good to finally help people for a change, and working along side the very people he used to hate, helped Draco to prove to himself that he wasn't the monster he had feared himself to be.

"…is that's cool with you Drake?" He had zoned out and not even realized he was being spoken to.

"What?" he asked.

"I was going to take Rose and show her some of the rooms around the station. Unless you wanted to?" Blake asked him.

"Oh. Ya go ahead as long as it's okay with her mother. And stop calling me Drake" Blake had the annoying habit of calling him Drake all of the time and it drove him bloody insane.

"Oh it's fine with me" Hermione told him. The pair left, Rose jumping in excitement again, leaving behind Hermione, Draco and Matt. It had become awkward now, sitting across from the girl that he had tortured during school, the girl who knew about all of the awful things he had done. Matt shifted in his seat, feeling the tension that had settled in the room. Draco cleared his throat.

"It's been awhile since I've seen you. What is it, six years now?" he asked her in an attempt to make conversation.

"Yes, about that I think." She said giving a small nod.

"Wait." Matt cut in. "You two know each other?"

"We went to school together." Draco told him. Matt laughed.

"Well isn't that ironic. What are the odds right?" He said.

"Yes. It was quite the coincidence." Hermione said. "Thank you by the way, for saving Rose." She said looking Draco in the eye. "If there's anything I can ever do to pay you back, just name it, I definitely owe you one."

Draco shook his head. "No, no. I was doing my job, you don't owe me anything, the cookies are plenty." He told her with a smile. Hermione was about to protest when Matt cut in.

"I dunno Draco, you sure could do with a date for the banquet." Draco's eyes grew wide at his friend's suggestion. But Matt ignored him turning to Hermione. "The annual awards banquet is this Saturday, and Draco here has yet to find a date. That would be the perfect way to pay him back," Draco could feel the flush that was warming his face.

"Don't listen to him, you don't need to feel obligated to go." He rushed out, shooting a glare at Matt.

"Well you're going to look damn pathetic if you go by yourself, and you work every day until then, it's not like you have time to find a date."

"Date's aren't mandatory, and I'll look even more pathetic if I arrive with a girl who's there against her will won't I?"

"I'll go." Hermione cut in, Draco looked at her in surprise.

"Are you sure? Seriously you don't need to feel like you have to go." Draco told her.

"No really it's fine. I owe you one, beside, I'm sure it'll be interesting."

"Oh good! He'll pick you up at 6:30. I'm going to go make sure Blake hasn't lost Rose." Draco sat there with his mouth open slightly and watched Matt just walk out. Oh, he would be paying him back for this. It's not that he minded taking Granger with him, but considering their past, it was going to be one interesting night. He heard Hermione giggle.

"Catching fly's Malfoy?" He snapped his mouth shut.

"Very funny. Are sure about going? I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

"Actually I think it might be interesting, I'm looking forward to it. But do you mind if I meet you at your place? I can just floo over."

"Oh sure." He hopped up and grabbed some paper and a pen, writing down where he lived and handing to her.

"Thanks, that way I can get away while Rose is distracted and not upset her. Is there a dress code?" she asked.

"Oh, yes it's semi-formal. And we will be eating there." He told her.

She smiled at him. "Sounds good then, I'll be at your place at 6:30 this Saturday then."

Just then an alarm sounded and a radio went off… station three, station three…structural fire, structural fire… flames showing…

"That's my cue, see you Saturday." He told her, Blake came running into the room with Rose in his arms and handed her to Hermione before running back out on Draco's heels, headed for the bay.

Draco stepped into his boots and yanked his pants up, pulling the suspenders over his shoulders and tightening. He threw his helmet on his head and ran to the truck while pulling on his jacket. He jumped into the captain's seat, and they started pulling out. He saw Hermione and Rose standing on the sidewalk waving; he yanked down the window and waved back.

The call wasn't far from the station, the blazing lights and screaming sirens easily parted traffic, and within minutes they were there. As they rounded the corner, the building came into view. It was a fully involved fire, a good one at that.

"Let's go boys!" One of the other guys shouted as they came to a stop, all of them hopping out of the truck and jumping into action.

A/N: Thought you might find it funny to know that the cat calls at the high school actually happen. My husband is a firefighter, and every time they go they have girls screaming things at them lol. Sorry again for the wait on this chapter. It on my list of priorities, unfortunately it comes after the husband, three children, dog, turtles, and photography. But I will do my best!

Oh and since this story is firefighter themed, if anyone's interested, I just did a daddy and me firefighter themed photo shoot. If you want to see I have them on Facebook, just search Catherine Rose Photography. They are so cute!